NCAA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - EAST REGION SEMIFINALS
(#2 SEED) DAEMEN WILDCATS (8-5, 7-2 ECC) vs.(#3 SEED) BLOOMFIELD BEARS (6-3, 6-3 CACC) -OR- (#6 SEED) NYACK WARRIORS (4-4, 4-4 CACC)
SUNDAY, MARCH 14
ALBANY CAPITAL CENTER (ALBANY, N.Y.) - 8:45 PM
NO SPECTATORS PERMITTED DUE TO COVID-19



















FASTBREAK POINTS
1. Daemen has earned its third consecutive NCAA tournament berth and was awarded the No. 2 seed in the East Region. The Wildcats await the winner of Saturday's regional quarterfinal contest between third-seeded Bloomfield and sixth-seeded Nyack. A win in Sunday's game would push Daemen into the regional final ("Sweet 16") on Tuesday night. The entire East Regional is being held at the Albany (N.Y.) Capital Center.

2. Daemen is seeking its first-ever NCAA tournament victory. As the No. 5 seed in the East Region in 2019, the Wildcats suffered a 72-67 loss to New Haven in their NCAA tournament debut. Daemen was awarded the No. 8 seed in the East Region for the 2020 NCAA tournament, but the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 two days prior to their first-round game vs. top-seeded Bridgeport.

3. Daemen is coming off an 83-67 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in the final round of the East Coast Conference Championship. STAC used a 21-6 spurt in the final six minutes of the first half to seize control. Daemen was making its second appearance in the ECC Championship finals, and first since 2016 when they also fell to STAC.

4. Redshirt senior center Andrew Sischo enters NCAA tournament play ranked third in scoring (27.0) and first in rebounding (13.0) among the Division II national leaders. Sischo is just the second player in ECC history to reach 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds and was named the ECC Player of the Year for the third time. He has scored 20+ points in 11 of 12 games this season (56 games in his career) and has reached double figures in 63 straight games.

5. Both of Daemen's potential semifinal opponents compete as members of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Daemen has won 13 straight games against CACC opponents. Three of those victories are over Nyack. Since joining the ECC in 2013-14, Daemen is 17-3 against CACC opponents. Their last loss was an 89-86 final to Holy Family on Nov. 14, 2015.

BLOOMFIELD SCOUTING REPORT

• Bloomfield is a member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and the Bears are led by veteran head coach Gerald Holmes who is in his 19th season at the helm. Since Holmes took the reins of the program, the Bears have compiled a 343-210 overall record. The Bears are making their ninth NCAA tournament appearance under Holmes, and their first since 2018 when they advanced to the regional final.
• The Bears return eight players and three starters from their 2019-20 team that finished 16-14 overall and 11-8 in CACC play.
• Bloomfield played only conference games this season, finishing 6-3. They will bring a four-game winning streak into the NCAA tournament, but have not played since an 89-47 victory over Georgian Court on Feb. 21. Included in the streak are two victories over Dominican which has earned the No. 4 seed to this week's regional tournament. They have not lost since Feb. 9 vs. Felician (76-67).
• Senior forward Rich Chapman leads a balanced Bloomfield team by averaging 13.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Chapman scored a season-high 18 points in the Bears' 76-72 win over Dominican on Feb. 11.
• Sophomore guard Isaiah Sparks has reached 20 points in two games and is producing 12.6 points per game. Both Chapman and Sparks have earned All-CACC honors this season.
• Freshman guard Andres Fulgencio (12.6 ppg) and sophomore forward Abdallah Elsaleh (10.7 ppg) round out Bloomfield's quartet of double figure scorers. Fulgencio has a team-high 18 three-pointers and Elsaleh leads the team in assists (28).
• Bloomfield's statistical strength is on the backboard where they rank 12th in overall rebounding (41.1 rpg) and 15th in offensive rebounding (13.8 orpg) among the national leaders.
• Defensively, the Bears are surrendering 70.6 points per game and allowing opponents to shoot just 42% from the field.

SERIES HISTORY VS. BLOOMFIELD
All-Time Series: 0-0
At Neutral Site: 0-0
In NCAA Tournament: 0-0
Current Streak: N/A
Last Meeting: N/A

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that a meeting between Daemen and Bloomfield would feature two of the 11 active East Region coaches with at least 300 career wins? Daemen's Mike MacDonald ranks sixth among that group with 394 wins, while Bloomfield's Gerald Holmes ranks ninth with 343. This weekend's tournament includes three other coaches on the list – STAC's Tobin Anderson (365), Dominican's Joe Clinton (452) and Caldwell's Mark Corino (597).

NYACK SCOUTING REPORT

• Nyack is a member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and the Warriors are led by veteran head coach Valiant Jones who is in his third season at the helm. Since taking over in 2018, Jones has led the Warriors to a 24-38 record, including a 14-13 mark in 2019-20 – the program's first season above .500 since 2004-05.
• After playing a conference-only regular season and posting an even 4-4 record, the Warriors have advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. The Warriors have dropped three of their last four contests and have not played since an 84-66 loss to Dominican on Feb. 23.
• Nyack returns just six players from their 2019-20 team, including incumbent starters Joel Bailey and Jayden Dawson.
• Bailey, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, was Nyack's lone representative on the All-CACC team after averaging a team-high 15.0 points per game. Bailey hit double figures in seven of eight games this season, including a season-high 23 points in a two-point loss to Caldwell on Feb. 16.
• Newcomer Isayas Aris, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, is nearly averaging a double-double (12.6 ppg, 9.5 rpg). He scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in Nyack's most recent victory, a 74-67 final at Felician on Feb. 21. Aris ranks second in the CACC in rebounding.
• Additional production is coming from Dawson (9.5 ppg), a 6-foot-4 junior guard/forward, and junior guard Tunde Scrivner (8.3 ppg).
• Albeit in a small sample size, Nyack has been impressive defensively. They are allowing just 69.1 points per game while ranking in the top five nationally in field goal percentage defense (.386) and rebounding (42.6 rpg).

SERIES HISTORY VS. NYACK
All-Time Series: Daemen 5-1
At Neutral Site: Daemen 1-0
In NCAA Tournament: 0-0
Current Streak: Daemen won 5
Last Meeting: Daemen 80, Nyack 74 | Nov. 9, 2019 | at Amherst, N.Y.

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that Daemen and Nyack have met in each of the last three seasons as part of the ECC-CACC Challenge hosted by the Wildcats? Daemen has won all three of the recent meetings and five straight in the series overall which got its start during the 1988-99 season.

UNPRECEDENTED SEASON
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc upon collegiate sports with postponements, pauses and cancelations. Daemen, which experienced its own 10-day pause in team activities due to a positive COVID-19 test result, was out of action for 328 days before making their long-awaited season debut on Jan. 29 vs. Gannon. Daemen competed in 11 regular season games, including nine ECC contests. The limited schedule was comprised with the health and safety of all players, coaches and other Tier 1 personnel in mind, and in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines established by the NCAA. 

RETURN OF THE MAC
Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his seventh season as Daemen's head coach, and his 24th overall as a collegiate head coach. Since beginning to roam the Daemen sidelines, MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a 137-56 overall record. The Wildcats have won at least 19 games in each of MacDonald's first six seasons, and the team's 129 victories in that span are the second most among all NCAA Division II programs in New York State, as well as all East Coast Conference teams. He recorded the 100th win of his Daemen tenure Feb. 10, 2019 against Queens, placing him in an elite fraternity of coaches that have achieved at least 100 wins in each of the NCAA's three divisions. He went on to be named the East Coast Conference, NABC District and Basketball Coaches Association of New York Division II Coach of the Year following the 2018-19 season. Before coming to Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial powerhouse, averaging 18 wins per season and advancing to the postseason six times in his eight years as head coach. MacDonald made his head coaching debut at the Division I level, leading the program at Canisius from 1997-2006. While there, MacDonald's teams racked up 108 wins making him the third all-time winningest coach in the program's history. The longtime bench boss holds a career record of 394-282.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS
The Daemen program has been built on sustained success, winning at least 19 games in each of the last nine seasons. In that span (2011-20), which encompasses the end of Daemen's NAIA Era, its' NCAA transition period and the first five seasons of full NCAA Division II membership, the Wildcats have won 70% of their contests, going 176-75. Looking more recently, Daemen is 70-22 in the last three seasons (.761 winning percentage), and their 89 wins in the last four seasons is the most successful four-year span in program history. 

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen has earned a third consecutive NCAA tournament berth this season. The Wildcats won 24 games (NCAA Era program record) and earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in each of the two seasons prior. The team's 2019 bid was the first in program history, and the Wildcats made their NCAA tournament debut as the No. 5 seed in the East Region, falling in the opening round to fourth-seeded New Haven, 72-67. Daemen was awarded the No. 8 seed in the East Region, however the tournament was canceled before it even began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GOING STREAKING
Daemen has embarked on four winning streaks of at least nine games since the start of the 2018-19 season. Last season, the Wildcats put together an 11-game winning streak, covering games played Nov. 2 through Dec. 13 - the longest of Daemen's NCAA Era. 

DEFENDING THE DEN
Success on their home floor has been a staple of Daemen's rise within the NCAA Division II ranks. The Wildcats have won 10+ home games in eight of the last nine seasons, including identical 15-1 records in the last two seasons which established a new program benchmark for homecourt victories. Dating back to the 2017-18 season, Daemen has won 42 of their last 46 home games. Since joining the ECC (2013-14 season), Daemen is 59-10 in home conference games (.855 win %). The Wildcats are also 70-13 at home during the program's NCAA era (.843 win %). In the 20 seasons from 2000-01 through 2019-20, the Wildcats won 83% of all home games, going 220-45. 

POLL POSITION
Daemen has been among the nationally ranked teams for the third straight season. The Wildcats have been ranked as high as No. 21 in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) national media poll and have also received votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) top-25 poll this season. The Wildcats have been ranked 18 times in the D2SIDA poll dating back to the 2018-19 season, rising as high as No. 8, a position they held for three successive weeks early last season. In addition, the Wildcats have been ranked in 34 of the last 35 D2SIDA East Region media polls.

WALKING THE STAGE
Daemen was hit hard by graduation in 2020, losing starters Breon Harris, Jay Sarkis, Jeff Redband and Joey Wallace who were each 1,000-point scorers as well as All-ECC honorees at one point or another. Harris, Sarkis and Redband were well entrenched in the Wildcats' lineup, combining for 330 games and 297 starts in their respective careers, and played key roles in leading Daemen to 89 wins. 

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY
Daemen had won 17 consecutive season openers spanning 2002-18. That streak was snapped last season with their loss to No. 1 Northwest Missouri State. This season, back-to-back losses to Gannon put Daemen at 0-2 for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS
Redshirt senior center Andrew Sischo, the two-time East Coast Conference and East Region Player of the Year and a consensus All-American, headlines Daemen's returning players. Sischo has already cemented his place among Daemen's all-time great players by racking up 1,820 points, 906 rebounds and a program-record 722 field goals in his first three collegiate seasons. Sischo's 2019-20 season was one for the record books as well. He set Daemen and ECC records for points (773) and field goals (298) in a season, led the country in total rebounds (362) and double-doubles (22) and became the first Division II player since the 2010-11 season to average at least 24 points and 11 rebounds per game while shooting at least 64% from the field. He enters the season having scored 20+ points 45 times in his career, including a record 47-point outburst in the opening round of the ECC Championship tournament last March. Already this season, he's been named a Preseason All-American by Basketball Times, as well as the ECC Preseason Player of the Year - an honor he's now earned in three straight seasons. 

DOUBLE-DOUBLE YOUR DELIGHTMENT
Andrew Sischo has been a double-double machine throughout his career, racking up 57 of them in 101 games - the most for a Daemen player since Gerald Beverly totaled 46 double-doubles in his career spanning 2011-15. Since the start of his sophomore season, Sischo has recorded double-doubles in more than two-thirds of the games he's appeared in (49 double-doubles in 70 games). Sischo's 22 double-doubles in 2019-20 led all Division II players.  

BEST OF THE BEST
During Daemen's game vs. Roberts Wesleyan on Feb. 11, 2021, Andrew Sischo became the program's all-time leading scorer, surpassing the benchmark of 1,962 points set by Robert Robinson (1988-92). In 101 career games, Sischo has totaled 2,144 points and 1,062 rebounds. He stands as the only player in program history and one of only two players in ECC history with at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. He is Daemen's and the ECC's all-time leader in field goals with 850. Sischo ranks second in Daemen history in rebounding, and has placed himself among impressive company within ECC history, ranking second in scoring and fourth in rebounding.

MORE SISCHO
By eclipsing 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, Andrew Sischo has joined an elite fraternity of East Region players to reach both milestones:
 
Lambert Shell – Bridgeport – 3,001 / 1,345
John Grochowalski – Assumption – 2,489 / 1,756
Garret Kerr – U. Sciences – 2,434 / 1,391
Michael Allocco – Stonehill – 2,399 / 1,150
James Hector – American Int'l – 2,306 / 1,444
Jon Cronin – Stonehill – 2,301 / 1,044
Cleveland Woods – NH College – 2,247 / 1,170
Justin Reyes – St. Thomas Aq. – 2,247 / 1,144
Norman Taylor – Bridgeport – 2,170 / 1,232
Andrew Sischo – Daemen – 2,144 / 1,062
Mario Elie – American Int'l – 2,124 / 1,001
Peter Alexis – Philadelphia – 2,116 / 1,162
Wayne Robertson – NH College – 2,092 / 1,487
Ed Czernota – Sacred Heart – 2,075 / 1,317
Al Hicks – Keene Stat – 2,023 / 1,076

VETERAN PRESENCE
Daemen will turn to graduate transfer Sean Fasoyiro and senior guard Kyle Harris to provide a veteran presence on a relatively young roster. A 6-foot-3 guard, Fasoyiro appeared in 81 games over the last three seasons for Franklin Pierce, helping them to a 45-38 record. In 28 games last season, including eight starts, Fasoyiro produced career-highs in scoring (7.8 ppg), minutes (21.8 mpg), field goal percentage (45.7), three-point percentage (37.5), rebounding (5.0 rpg) and assists (1.3). The Wildcats have had success in recent years on the transfer market, getting successful one-year contributors such as Joey Wallace and Quinn Lee Yaw. Now in his second season with the program, Harris is Daemen's most experienced returning player after center Andrew Sischo. Harris appeared in all 32 games and made nine starts last season when he shot 38% from three-point range and averaged 4.4 points per game. 

ALL-WNY PEDIGREE
Mike MacDonald and his staff made a sizable dent in the available WNY talent pool by inking 6-foot guard Juston Johnson, 6-foot-6 forward Justin Hemphill and 5-foot-11 guard Tyler Hind in the program's 2020 recruiting class. Johnson and Hemphill represent the first All-WNY first team selections to commit to Daemen out of high school since Mark Coppola in 2010. Hind, a second team All-WNY brings a stellar resume of his own, including 2,244 points which ranks eighth all-time among WNY players. He also set a new WNY record with 400 three-pointers in his career and was named the New York State Class C Player of the Year as a senior.

585 ----> 716
Daemen has had great success recruiting out of the Rochester area through the years. In fact, of the 11 Daemen players that have earned All-ECC honors since the 2013-14 season, eight of them have been products of Section V high schools. The Wildcats are hoping for continued production from the Rochester pipeline as freshmen guards Andrew Mason and Tony Arnold join the list of Section V standouts to choose Daemen. Both were All-Greater Rochester selections who graduated as the all-time leading scorers at their respective high schools. Arnold led the Eastridge, the same school that produced former Daemen guard Supreme Hannah, to their first sectional title in some 56 years last winter. Daemen has signed 11 All-Greater Rochester players since 2010. 

HEY ROOKIE
Freshman guard Andrew Mason has twice earned ECC Rookie of the Week honors this season. Mason is the sixth Daemen player to be named ECC Rookie of the Week since the Wildcats joined the conference in 2013. Mason netted a career-high 25 points in Daemen's 103-69 win at D'Youville on Feb. 15 – the most for a Daemen freshman since the 2017-18 season when teammate Andrew Sischo posted a pair of 25+ point games.

OPTING OUT
Daemen has had eight players exercise their right to opt out of the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19. These players include guard Tajmin Holt, forward Ryan Bradley and center Chris Luke who all saw regular minutes last season. Each player's decision has been fully supported by the Daemen coaching staff and athletics administration.

A NEW STREAK
Daemen's 80-75 loss to Roberts Wesleyan on Feb. 11 snapped a series winning streak that had reached 20 games over a span of 10 years. It was the Redhawks' first win over Daemen since Feb. 15, 2011, and also their first home win in the series since Feb. 21, 2007. Daemen earned some redemption with an 85-69 win over RWC on Feb. 17 and a 78-72 triumph in the ECC Championship semifinals on Mar. 5. The Wildcats have won 29 of the last 31 meetings overall and 12 straight home meetings in the series.

HAVE MERCY
Daemen's 82-51 win over Mercy on Feb. 20 pushed the Wildcats to 16-0 all-time against the Mavericks. Their success in the series is tied for the program's longest active winning streak against any single opponent. Daemen has also won 16 straight meetings with former NAIA rival Houghton, but haven't met the Highlanders since the 2011-12 season.

BUDDING BUFFALO RIVALRY
After not playing since 2004, Daemen met crosstown rival D'Youville three times in as many weeks this season. The Wildcats posted wins in all three matchups, improving to 9-0 all-time in the series. D'Youville is in its first season as a member of the ECC as it transitions to NCAA Division II membership following a long history within Division III. With the two schools separated by less than 10 miles, the Daemen-D'Youville rivalry has the potential to be among the best in the ECC.

INSTANT CLASSIC
Daemen earned its most impressive win of the season on Feb. 2 by defeating #11/#5 St. Thomas Aquinas 84-81 in overtime. The Daemen win snapped STAC's 13-game winning streak and knocked the Spartans from the ranks of the unbeaten. Sean Fasoyiro scored off a miraculous feed from Andrew Mason to even the score at 71-71 with less than five seconds remaining in regulation. In the overtime period, Ryan Salzberg drilled back-to-back three-pointers inside of two minutes left to give Daemen the lead. Andrew Sischo logged 39 minutes – including the last 10 with four personal fouls – and totaled 28 points and 13 rebounds.

CHAMPIONSHIP QUEST
Daemen's quest for an elusive ECC tournament title will have to wait for another season after they lost 83-67 to nationally ranked St. Thomas Aquinas in the 2021 title game at Aquinas Hall on Mar. 7. It marked Daemen's second appearance in the final round of the ECC Championship, and the first since 2016 when they also fell to the Spartans. STAC used a 21-6 spurt over the final six minutes of the first half to seize control. Their lead ballooned to 21 points in the second half before Daemen cut it to 11, but the Wildcats could get no closer.

NEXT JUMP BALL
A win Sunday would push Daemen into the final round of the East Regional with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line. The regional championship game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off Tuesday at the Albany Capital Center.